"Elbas?" Noah asked while studying the massive barrage of light.
"What do you want me to say?" King Elbas replied. "The sky is attacking us. You can see that too."
King Elbas was right. Noah had understood the nature of that attack, but he had hoped to be wrong.
The light didn't come from a cultivator. It wasn't a spell or a technique launched by a powerful existence. It carried the same aura as the sky, which made it part of Heaven and Earth's system.
Its power was also unclear. Noah couldn't understand the level of the light. It seemed able to change its might according to the matter illuminated by that whiteness.
"You have been in the Immortal Lands far longer than me," Noah asked to all the existences around him. "Did you ever see something like this? Have your organizations ever witnessed a similar event?"
Wilfred, Jordan, Irvin, and Pearl shook their head. They knew nothing about that dangerous event.
Noah could only curse in his mind. His black hole spun faster and sent all its energy toward his consciousness. Noah wanted to find an explanation, but his knowledge didn't contain that answer.
King Elbas was as clueless as Noah. The expert had studied the records stored in the mansion of the Sailbrird family, but they had never mentioned something like that.
'Think! Think!' Noah shouted in his mind. 'This is too coincidental to be a natural crisis. Yet, it sure resembles a Tribulation. How is this possible?'
Only one answer could explain that phenomenon. The laws bent in front of the light and changed their structure according to what it needed. Heaven and Earth were the sole existences capable of such feats.
An explanation eventually dawned on Noah's mind. The light was a precise attack sent by Heaven and Earth. Still, Noah remained unclear about the details behind that event.
'Why now?' Noah wondered. 'Why didn't they attack in the Outer Lands? They would have taken out most of those who fight their system.'
The situation made no sense. Heaven and Earth had other chances to send that type of attack. They could have taken care of Noah whenever he was exhausted or among enemies!
'They can't send it whenever they want,' Noah concluded before looking at the foggy sky.
That conclusion failed to satisfy Noah. There had to be something else behind that catastrophe.
'They knew that I would have been here,' Noah concluded while a strange guess formed in his mind.
Heaven and Earth were overlords capable of breathtaking power, but they had to follow the same fairness that they had created. They couldn't attack without a valid reason, and Noah didn't do anything wrong during the meeting.
The crisis had to be something more than a random event. There was a limit to how unlucky Noah could be. The light was a precise and planned attack meant to get rid of his existence once and for all.
"This is a Tribulation send by someone," Noah exclaimed once his guess took form.
Wilfred and the others turned toward Noah and began to overwhelm him with questions, but King Elbas remained silent. Noah's explanation had forced the expert to think out of the box and consider otherwise unbelievable possibilities.
King Elbas experienced Noah's reasoning. That light belonged to Heaven and Earth, so it was a Tribulation. Yet, its timing had been too perfect. It almost resembled an ambush, which wasn't in Heaven and Earth's style.
"You have traitors in your family," King Elbas explained at some point. "The Immortal Lands seem to have far more secrets than I expected."
"I agree," Noah replied. "We have to talk with the secret organization. They might explain what happens behind the flashy political environment."
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Noah and King Elbas exchanged a nod. They were on the same page. They had concluded that someone had managed to trigger a Tribulation in that area to kill them.
That interaction lasted less than a minute. The light had closed on the group during that time, and a crowd eventually appeared in the distance.
Noah didn't bother to look at them. They were the other members of the Balrow family hidden inside their secret headquarters. The group had decided to evacuate their homes and reach their rank 8 leaders.
Panic filled the group. No one understood what was happening, and only the rank 8 experts managed to remain calm. Those existences kept their eyes on Noah and King Elbas since they seemed to have realized something.
"Do you think the teleport can survive this light?" Noah asked.
"It might," King Elbas explained. "The light changes its power according to what it needs to destroy. I think that our defenses will hide part of the formation. The problem is overcoming the Tribulation."
"I see no problem," Noah exclaimed. "This is a Tribulation, so the light won't have an unfair power. Those who overcome it will gain benefits. The others will die."
"We can't cooperate then," King Elbas said. "Working together will only make the Tribulation harder."
Wilfred and Jordan wore a determined expression at that point. They didn't get most of that conversation, but they understood that they had to pass through the light.
"You will all come with me," Noah shouted while turning toward the members of the Balrow family. "I want to interrogate all of you."
"But-," Irvin wanted to say something, but Noah gave voice to a roar before he could even begin his line.
"Shut up!" Noah roared. "Someone has decided to sacrifice you all to take me down. You belong to me now. Welcome to my nameless organization."
"But-," Pearl tried to say something, but Noah gave voice to another roar while grabbing one of the rank 7 cultivators behind her.
Noah then threw the cultivator toward the incoming light. The expert entered those white barriers and melted until he transformed into grey smoke. The Tribulation had killed him in an instant.
"I can do this to all of you only to test how that light works," Noah threatened, "Or we can work together to overcome this Tribulation. We will all enter the light at the same time and fight its effects. It might become weaker if we do that."
Saul opened his mouth, but Irvin and Pearl shot an angry glance toward him. The experts feared what Noah could do before the arrival of the light.
"This is a Tribulation!" Noah announced once all the experts in the area paid attention to him. "You can overcome it. Form a column and walk with me. We will cross the light and return to the Outer Lands."
The experts gulped. They couldn't oppose Noah, and they didn't have a way out of that situation. They could only follow him and hope that his orders could keep them alive.
Noah forced the rank 7 cultivators to float above him. All the rank 8 existences remained on the ground. He hoped that the light would lose a bit of power after melting the other experts.
The group synchronized. The experts stepped forward at the same time and marched toward the white barrier. Their destination was the teleportation matrix on the other side of that Tribulation.
"Remember that I will personally hunt down anyone who doesn't step into the light," Noah warned his new companions once the Tribulation was almost on the group.
No one dared to complain. All the experts fell silent and waited for the orders of their new leader.
Countless auras filled the environment. The rank 7 and 8 existences unfolded their laws and prepared for the inevitable clash. Then, a roar echoed through the sky, and the group jumped toward the barrier of light.
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Author's notes: I had a personal issue yesterday. I just got home. You can expect the other 2 chapters in the next hours. Also, nothing should happen today, so chapters will come out normally tomorrow.